- Were you on board the stricken cruise ship? Email: edward.holt@mailonline.co.uk
A contagious virus outbreak has left dozens of passengers and crew ill and in isolation during their nearly three-week-long voyage.
After the Coral Princess cruise ship set sail from California on February 21, 69 of the over 1,000 passengers and 13 of the 895 crew members were struck down by the vomiting and diarrhea bug norovirus.
The ship was travelling from Los Angeles to Fort Lauderdale,calling at ports along the west coast of Mexico before travelling through the Panama canal into the caribbean.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), this is the second outbreak of the virus on the cruise liner this year after the Coral Princess reported cases back in January.
Passengers and workers who were struck down were isolated to try and contain the outbreak, public areas were thoroughly disinfected, The New York Post reported.
Stool samples from ill passengers were also collected for further testing.
The ship arrived in Fort Lauderdale on Sunday after completing stops in Mexico, Costa Rica and Aruba.
‘At the earliest signs of illness, we promptly enacted enhanced sanitization protocols, including comprehensive disinfection, isolating affected guests, and offering health guidance to everyone on board,’ the cruise line said in a statement.
The Coral Princess cruise liner in Miami in April 2020. After the cruise ship set sail from California on February 21, 69 of the over 1,000 passengers and 13 of the 895 crew members were struck down by the vomiting and diarrhea bug norovirus
Ill vacationers and staff on the cruise liner were isolated and communal areas were thoroughly cleaned and disinfected
‘Upon arrival in Ft. Lauderdale on Sunday, March 9, our crew conducted additional disinfection measures prior to the next sailing,’ Princess Cruises said in their statement.
Outbreaks of norovirus on cruises is becoming increasingly common.
Last year, was the worst year ever for stomach flu outbreaks on cruise ships in the US.
According to the CDC, there were 16 outbreaks in 2024.
A staggering five of those incidents took place in December 2024 alone – causing 890 cases.
The last time there were that many outbreaks in one year was in 2012.
A cruise ship departing from the UK for the Spanish Canary islands saw a shocking 500 cases of norovirus in May last year.
More than 50 passengers on the P&O cruise are now pursuing compensation according to the BBC.
In 2022, the Coral Princess suffered from an outbreak of Covid-19 which forced 100 passengers and crew into isolation for five days of their vacation.
The ship was the first luxury liner to enter Western Australian (WA) waters in more than two years when it docked in Broome in October 2022.
But around 100-infected passengers and crew are unable to leave and must stay in isolation for the next five days after the virus was discovered circulating on the ship.
The Coral Princess had departed Sydney for WA on October 11 2022 after the state government announced that it would allow large cruise liners to dock off the state’s coastline again.
